Cattle smuggling rampant in city

Ten newborn calves being smuggled into the city by tempo died near Kunigal last week. In all, 51 calves from Hassan were being transported to slaughter houses and died due to suffocation and dehydration.

Animal Rights Activists have blamed Animal Husbandry Department officials for negligence. and the Prani Daya Sangha, a city based animal rights NGO, has alleged that the department is lax, despite several complaints.

One of the dead calves that was found in the tempo near Kunigal

"We had information about animals smuggling about 15 days before the incident and approached the department, but they did not show any interest.

We reached the spot in Kunigal along with the rural police and managed to stop the vehicle transporting the cattle and rescue them," said Sunil Dugar, organising secretary, Prani Daya Sangha.

"The accused identified as A Pasha (25), and his associate M Laya (25) have been detained at the Tumkur Jail for further investigation," said Shivarudra Swamy, DySP, Kunigal.

However, out of 51 rescued calves, 12 are in a serious condition and 10 died. When MiD DAY questioned the senior officials from the Animal Husbandry Department, they feigned ignorance on the matter.

"We are not aware of any such rescue operation. I will talk to my junior officials and look into the matter before commenting," said Rama Chandra, deputy director, Animal Husbandry Department.

Two hours after this reporter questioned the department, Joint Director Parvez Ahmed Piran acted on the matter and sent a circular to all the Civic Officials to seize calves and camels seen in and around the city and book the offenders.